Parachute ball toy



June 25, 1957 K. T. BEYRODT PARACHUTE BALL T-OY Filed Sept. 9, 1954 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

v KuRTTBEyRob'r June 25, 1957 K. T. BEYRODT 2,796,697

PARACHUTE BALL TOY Filed Sept. 9, 1954 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 I INVENTOR.I KuR TBEy RODT United States Patent PARACHUTE BALL TOY Kurt T. Beyrodt,Williston Park, N. Y.

Application September 9, 1954, Serial No. 454,905

4 Claims. (Cl.-46-86) This invention relates to toys, and moreparticularly to a parachute type toy.

The present invention consists essentially of two halves of a rubberball, one half of which has a scalable small orifice; a short cordconnected to the two halves on the inside, and a parachute with elasticshroud lines attached to the short cord. The parachute is rolled up andplaced inside the two halves. The two halves of the ball are placedtogether, squeezed, and released, while the orifice is kept closed, thuscreating a partial vacuum which will hold them together. The ball isthrown in the air at which time the orifice is opened automatically.After a predetermined time the halves will break apart, the parachutewill open and the whole combination will descend.

Accordingly, a principal object of the invention is to provide a new andimproved toy means.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved parachutetoy means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improvededucational toy which demonstrates scientific principles.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved outdoortoy which is entertaining and safe in operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a toy comprising a pair ofelastic members adapted to fit together, one of said members having asmall orifice, and a parachute adapted to be contained inside saidjoined members.

Another object is to provide a novel outdoor toy for children which issafe, entertaining and educational in that it demonstrates thescientific principles of air timing devices and the power of airpressure differentials.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing specification and drawings of which:

Figure 1 is a sectional side view of one embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional side view of another embodiment of theinvention.

Figure 3 is a sectional side view of a third embodiment of theinvention.

Figure 4 is a side view illustrating the use of the invention.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the invention comprises two elastichemispheres 1 and 2 which may be similar to the halves of a rubber ball.The two halves preferably have a pair of flanges 3 and 4 which areadapted to fit together to form an air tight seal. One of the memberspreferably has an inside flange 5 which is adapted to enhance the vacuumseal and serves as a guide when closing the ball. One of the members 2has a small orifice 6 the size of which is chosen to leak air at apredetermined rate so that a vacuum seal will be broken in apredetermined time. The orifice 6 may be a simple eyelet member 16squeezing washer 17 or may comprise a more elaborate air valve, ifdesired.

The members 1 and 2 should preferably have sufiicient ice elasticstrength to regain their spherical shape even though there is a partialvacuum inside. A folded parachute 10 is shown inside the joined members1 and 2, the parachute being tightly folded up and wrapped with elasticshroud lines 11, 12 and 13. At least three lines should be used for theproper operation of the parachute or more may be used, if desired. Thetwo half members 1 and 2 are connected together by a short cord15 whichis connected to the parachute cords as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 2 shows another embodiment of the invention which is slightlymore elaborate in that it is used with a throwing stick 20. The throwingstick enables the ball to be thrown much higher and further. Otherwise,the operation is entirely the same. In this embodiment a tubular member21 is mountedaroundthe orifice 6. The tubular member 21 serves as aguide for the throwing stick and the rubber insert 20 at the tip of thestick seals the orifice 19.

In the operation of this embodiment the stick is inserted and the ballsqueezed. Therefore, the rubber seal 20' will hold the vacuum pressure.The stick is then moved with a whipping or snapping motion whereupon theball will fly off the end of the stick.

Figure 3 shows another embodiment of the invention which may be usedwith a stick or without. In this embodiment the tubular member 22 isrecessed in one of the hemispheres. Therefore, the vacuum seal may becreated either with a stick or by holding the operators thumb over theopening end of tubular member 22.

The operation of the invention may be summarized as follows:

After the parachute has been folded up and the elastic cords have beenwound tightly around it, it is laid inside the cup with the orifice, theother cup is placed on top of it so that it looks like a complete roundrubber ball.

if you place your thumb over the orifice to close it and then pushdownward with the thumb and release the pressure of the thumb withoutbreaking the seal at the orifice, the rubber ball will take its fullround shape and a partial vacuum will have developed inside the ball,which is sufficient to hold the two halves together until the seal atthe orifice is broken and air is allowed to fill the vacuum.

If the seal at the orifice is not broken, the ball can be thrown highinto the air and will only open after a fixed time delay. At this timethe ball will fly apart, the parachute will unfold quickly and float tothe ground with the two cups serving as ballast.

To make the device more practical and trouble free, a few refinementsshould preferably be incorporated:

1. The rubber should be of suitable durometer and should be distributedproperly so that upon release of the thumb pressure the ball snaps backto its spherical shape without collapsing at the flange and breaking thevacuum seal.

2. Both cups should have slight thin flanges 3 and 4 all around theoutside of the open end which would greatly help to seal the two cupsall around the periphery.

3. One of the cups, preferably the one with the orifice should have aflange 5 on the inside of the opening. This reinforcement should extendupwardly into the other cup so as to form a guide for the second cup andfacilitate centering the two cups when closing the ball. If necessary,to prevent the collapse of the flange section under the pressure of thevacuum, a ring shaped wire insert in the flange section may beadvisable.

Various other contents may be inserted inside the hollow sphere, forinstance, confetti, colored streamers or balloons adapted to beself-inflating with a C0 cartridge without departing from the scope ofthe invention.

Other throwing means may also be used with the invention suchas slingshots or spring operated launching boards,

I claim: 7

l. A toy comprising a first elastic hemisphere, a second elastichemisphere adapted to mate in air-tight fashion with said first elastichemisphere to form a complete sphere, said second hemisphere having anorifice through its wall, a tubular member afiired to said secondhemisphere on theconvex side thereof surrounding said orifice,a-fthrowing rod having a diameter equal to the inner diameter of saidtubular member and having its end nested within said tubular'member, asealing member atfixed to the bottom end of said rod and positioned tocover the orifice upon the insertion of said rod in said tubular member,a parachute, and a plurality of cords connecting said parachute to eachof said elastic hemispheres.

Y '2. ,Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said orifice is located at a poleof. said second hemisphere. 3Q Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein-saidorifice has hollow eyelet inserted therein.

' 4. A toy comprising a first elastic hemisphere, a second elastichemisphere adapted to mate in air-tight fashion with said first elastichemisphere to form a complete sphere, said second hemisphere having acircular opening at its pole, a tubular member aflixed to said secondhemisphere on the outside thereof surrounding said opening and a wallsealing the terminal end of said tubular member, said end wallhaving anorifice at its center, a throwing rod having a diameter equal to theinner diameter of said tubular member and having its end nested withinsaid tubular member, a sealing member afiixed to the bottom end of saidrod and positioned to cover the orifice in the end wall of saidtubular'member upon insertion of said rod in said tubular member, aparachute, and a plurality of cords connecting said parachute to each ofsaid elastic hemispheres.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,536,722 Miller May s, 1925 1,713,432 Griggs May 14, 1929 0 1,914,449Murray June 20, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 634,200 Great Britain Mar. 15, 1950

